Google, Twitter, and Innovation

I read an interesting article with a disruptive innovation slant focused on search-giant Google and social networking and micro-blogging upstart Twitter. [Most of you are familiar with Google. For a Twitter primer and history, go HERE.]

As search continues to expand, improve, and adapt, there will be many avenues for innovation. Already, the vertical search market of video searching is being dominated by YouTube. According to the article referenced, YouTube is the second largest search site. If you want to find something, odds are you can find it on YouTube.
* Want to know how to make guacamole? There's about 300 videos to show you.
* Just got a calling to work with the Scouts and need to brush up on some Scouting know-how before a merit badge clinic or camping trip? Re-learn how to make a log cabin fire, tie a bowline knot, or how to fold the flag.
* Have a question you've been dying to Ask a Ninja? Well, you can!
* Want to learn about the Bay of Pigs or the Cuban Missile Crisis?
All of these, and more, have videos online that relate to your search query.

Where is search going? Some companies are looking at Natural Language Processing (NLP) or semantic search to change the way we search and access information.

But search is also going another direction. Twitter has made the news for its nearly instant insight into current events as reported by its millions of users. And, with the application of "hash tags," tweets can be categorized and "followed" in a kind of group chat room way. We first discovered this during last October's LDS General Conference. Individuals using the #ldsconf hash tag made conference one of the hottest trending topics on Twitter. Going to search.twitter.com allows you to search by word to "see what's happening -- right not, and to follow trending topics.

The "Twitter in Media" section of the Twitter Wikipedia article has some interesting examples of Twitter being used to convey real-time information, usually ahead of traditional news sources. Go there to read about the
* UC Berkeley grad student in Egypt who tweeted his arrest and ended up getting help from his followers
* The passenger who used TwitPic to send a picture of the downed US Airways flight as it landed in the Hudson
* And how the American Red Cross uses Twitter and hash tags to spread the word about disasters and relief efforts

Read what john borthwick thinks about Google and Twitter. Is this the David that can take down the Goliath?

IMHO, search.twitter may have found its niche for search in real-time events, but it's not out of the woods, yet. Don't expect Google to fall by the wayside any time soon. Web search as we know it (largely keyword- and rankings-based) is comfortable for most users; change will be hard. Twitter has yet to find a business model that will make it profitable. It will be interesting to see how Twitter addresses this and where they go next. Will they try the Google route and run on ad-revenue? Will they just be bought up by someone who has monetizing plans in mind? For an in-depth analysis of Twitter's disruptive capability, visit the InnoBlog. Also, I think it's safe to say that people search for information for a reason. Although it may not be in style to always cite sources while chatting with your social networking crowd, I see a potential weakness with the search.twitter: with all the Re-Tweeting (RT) going on, how do you know who first put the information out there? What do you know about the person? Can you contact them? How do you know they were there? At least with "traditional" web searches, you can take pains to identify owners of the website, discover who is responsible for content creation, and provide a stable (mostly) URL for someone to re-create your research. I'm not sure how you would do any of this through a medium like Twitter.

That being said- I have found Twitter to be a useful tool. I enjoy the people -- both friends and random individuals -- that I follow, and continue to get pointed towards new things and hear about events I otherwise wouldn't have known about. Twitter is growing on me, and I'm sure I'll continue to discover new ways to use it as a tool. In the meantime, I won't be giving up my Google searches, but I may begin to sift through the millions of Tweets to see if there isn't someone out there who can help me with the next question that I have.

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